Juande Ramos signed the payoff yesterday that frees him of his brief relationship with Tottenham Hotspur, but the former head coach’s emotional ties to White Hart Lane and to English football remain so strong that he would love to return to management in the Barclays Premier League.

As well as the payoff for the 2½ years that were left on Ramos’s deal, Spurs will pay the compensation that was demanded by Seville after the Spanish club lost their coach in October 2007. Marcos Álvarez and Gustavo Poyet, the fitness coach and first-team coach respectively, also agreed their compensation yesterday and, with the resignation by e-mail of Dr Antonio Escribano, whom Ramos hired to get fit a squad that was carrying more than 100kg (about 15st 10lb) of extra weight when he took charge, it means that all the staff that Ramos brought with him have left the club.

Talking exclusively to The Times, Ramos looked back to what was an “unforgettable experience” but also one of frustration and failure, of disappointments and half-truths. “In the first few months we managed to win a title,” he said. “I am the first Spanish manager to win a title in the legendary Wembley, which is obviously the happiest moment of my life in England. Spurs had not won any in a long time and I honestly thought at that stage it was going to be the first in a line of successes at the club.”

He believed that the signings of Alan Hutton and Jonathan Woodgate, the defenders, from Rangers and Middlesbrough respectively signalled that the club were going in the right direction, but instead he found that problems during a turbulent summer of transfer activity were among the reasons behind the team failing to progress.

Ramos has no bitter words to say about his former employers, but it must be frustrating for him to hear some of his former pupils dish the dirt on his regime at White Hart Lane, especially those who were given the chance to explain where problems lay and never took it.

“I would have liked to spend more time at the club, but I understand what has happened is the unwritten law of football,” Ramos said. “I can only thank Spurs and especially the fans for the treatment I have been given in all the time I have been here. Being in the Premier League was a dream come true, a fantasy I had since I started as a manager. Given the right chance, I would love to be back.”

Some have accused Ramos of being too inflexible in his methods and in his relationship with a squad of mainly British players at Tottenham, and that is a feeling that he will have to take with him to Spain — the one piece of unfinished business.

Stories emanating from the club have confirmed that Ramos wanted Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane out, but what they did not mention was his plan was to replace them with two world-class strikers. Samuel Eto’o was one and negotiations with Barcelona and the player took place. But no agreement came for the Cameroon forward and Spurs were left with Fraizer Campbell and Darren Bent, until the arrival of Roman Pavlyuchenko.

This meant that Ramos started pre-season with one squad but by the end of the August transfer window, found that he had almost another. He would not confirm or deny these points, preferring not to delve into the past. “We have to look forward to the next challenge,” he said. “I left Seville in the Champions League to come here and sadly things didn’t work out.”

He is preparing to move back to Spain, to his house in Madrid, within the next ten days to wait for the right offer and his agent continues meeting clubs from around the world. Three firm offers have arrived at his table, but none was accepted. The Spanish press have linked Ramos to Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, as well as Shakhtar Donetsk, in Ukraine, Chivas, in Mexico, and a host of other European clubs. Queens Park Rangers approached his advisers to discover his potential interest in taking charge of the Coca-Cola Championship club, but were politely rebuffed.

“It is now time to enjoy, to find the next place where we can take our methods, which we have shown can be successful,” Ramos said.